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POLLING STATIONS AND ELECTION WORKERS

Polling stations

The Canada Elections Act provides that voting shall take
place in one or more polling stations established in each polling division (see
Table D). In all, 57 705 polling stations were established on election day
(56 822 stationary polling stations, 883 mobile polling stations).

The majority of these polling stations were located in educational
facilities (24.91%) and community centres (25.27%). As shown in Table E, polling
stations were also established in places as varied as hospitals, fire stations
and band offices within Indian reserves, to make voting as accessible as possible.

TABLE E
Premises used as polling stations on
election day  37th general election 2000

Premises

Number

Percentage

Band office

151

0.87%

Elderly hostel

2 651

15.27%

Community centre

4 386

25.27%

Church hall

1 629

9.39%

Recreation centre

279

1.61%

Commercial site

425

2.45%

Educational

4 323

24.91%

Fire hall

376

2.17%

Federal building

8

0.05%

Hospital

463

2.67%

Municipality or township hall

775

4.47%

Royal Canadian Legion

281

1.62%

Post office

8

0.05%

Residential

1 009

5.81%

Other

592

3.41%

Total

17 356

100.00%

Each ordinary, stationary polling station served an average
of 371 electors. The polls were open for 12 hours, with voting hours varying
according to time zone (see Table F).

TABLE F
Hours of voting  37th general election 2000

Time zone

Opening and closing hours of polling stations,
local time

Closing times, Pacific time

Closing times, Eastern time

Newfoundland time

8:30 a.m.  8:30 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

Atlantic time

8:30 a.m.  8:30 p.m.

4:30 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

Eastern time

9:30 a.m.  9:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Central time

8:30 a.m.  8:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Mountain time

7:30 a.m.  7:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Pacific time

7:00 a.m.  7:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

10:00 p.m.

Under the Act, every polling station is required to have level
access. If returning officers are unable to obtain suitable premises equipped
with such access, they may, with the Chief Electoral Officer?s prior approval,
locate a polling station in premises without level access. For the election
of November 27, 2000, only 89 polling stations (0.5%)did not have level
access.

The Canada Elections Act also provides for the establishment
of mobile polling stations to collect the votes of elderly or disabled persons
residing in institutions. These polling stations, set up in polling divisions
containing two or more health care institutions, travel from one institution
to the next and are open for the period of time established by the returning
officer. From coast to coast, 883 mobile polling stations were established to
serve a population of 141 260 registered electors (see Table G).

TABLE G
Number of mobile polling stations and
electors served  37th general election 2000

Province or territory

Number of mobile polling divisions

Number of electors served

Newfoundland

16

2 221

Prince Edward Island

9

925

Nova Scotia

24

4 001

New Brunswick

49

6 203

Quebec

214

32 850

Ontario

238

40 541

Manitoba

42

5 226

Saskatchewan

40

6 190

Alberta

121

23 047

British Columbia

129

19 975

Yukon Territory

1

81

Northwest Territories

0

0

Nunavut

0

0

Total

883

141 260

Returning officers are also required to locate an advance poll
in each advance polling district. A total of 3 023 advance polls were established for the
37th general election, and these polls had to be located in premises with level
access.

Returning officers also had to allow electors in their electoral
district to register for the special ballot by 6:00 p.m. on November 21, 2000.

Election workers

Some 166 000 election workers were mobilized to serve electors
in the offices of returning officers during the election period and at polling stations
(see Table H).

Each electoral district has its own returning officer, whose
responsibility it is to appoint the assistant returning officer, deputy returning
officers, poll clerks and all the personnel needed for the smooth operation
of the election ? an average of some 550 people in all. The returning officer
must be a qualified elector in the electoral district. All election workers
are required to undertake formally to refrain from engaging in any partisan
activities and to carry out their duties impartially.

The returning officer is appointed by the Governor in Council
and cannot be removed from office unless there are sufficient grounds. However,
the position becomes vacant if the returning officer resigns or the boundaries
of the electoral district are changed as part of redistribution.

Since the general election of 1997, 72 new returning officers
have been appointed (see Table I).